Kumaon Charitable Trust is supporting the development of the Dholkatiya Biodiversity Farm & Research Center - a unique effort by an ex-serviceman to combine habitat enhancement of Kumaon Himalayan biodiversity with natural hill farming for sustainability.
Location
The farm is on a hill side in Dholkhatiya village which is part of Barsayat gram panchayat in the Berinag Block of Pithoragarh district of Uttarakhand State in India. The farm is 24 km from Berinag town on Berinag –Old Thal road. From the last motorable point the farm is a 25 minute uphill trek through cobblestone and very narrow mud paths and requires careful navigation. The three acre farm is bordered on one side by a reserve forest, on other sides by village grazing land and farmlands.
Govind stops by one of the farm's water storage tanks. Six tanks are spread across the farm for rain water harvesting and to collect and preserve water from perennial mountain streams. Two tanks are made of concrete and four are made from locally available slate stone.
Founder
Govind Vallab Pant, Dholkatiya's son of the soil, is the man behind the conservation and habitat enhancing effort of his ancestral farmland. Govind joined the army with a desk job in 1985 and retired in 2010 after 25 years of service. During the last ten years of his service he spent his vacations on the farm which had fallen to neglect. During his stay he cleared the farm of damaging weeds and conserved a number of wild trees - including amla, jamun, walnut, figs, falyat, toon, shanon, gular, and haral, providing them with an ideal environment to propagate and flourish.
Sustainable Cultivation
Govind terraced the land and cultivated a mix of hill grains, vegetables, fruiting & flowering trees. In a phased manner he planted over 800 trees, including mangos, lichees, guavas, jackfruits and a variety of hill lemons such as the Zamir which has high medicinal value. Many of these are already bearing fruits. Hill turmeric, ginger and cardamon have also been cultivated in small areas.
Biodiversity Conservation
Today with Govind’s loving care and effort the ethnic tree count has grown to over 150, including wild amla, wild jamun, wild fig, wild walnut, falyat, haral and gular trees. Several medicinal plants and herbs including brahmi, chiraita, basil (tulsi), and mint occur naturally all over the farm.